Andreas Guibeb

Last updated

Andreas Benjamen Dawid Guibeb (born January 23, 1954, in Mariental, South West Africa) is a Namibian diplomat. He was Namibian ambassador in Berlin from 2016 to 2021. [1]

Life

Guibeb studied law at the University of the Western Cape in Bellville, South Africa and development economics and international trade law at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. Guibeb then worked as a research assistant to Arthur Dunkel, Director General of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in Geneva and as program director of the Centre of Applied Studies in International Negotiations in Geneva. [2] [3]

In 1989, he became deputy representative of the Namibian liberation movement SWAPO in Paris, France. In the same year, he became a member of the SWAPO election commission. [4]

He headed the team monitoring the succession of Namibia after independence from South Africa and became first secretary of state in the Namibian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also led negotiations for the incorporation of Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands. Guibeb became Namibian High Commissioner in Zambia. From 1996 to 1999, he also served as chairman of the Board of the national airline Air Namibia. [5] He has also worked as a consultant and board member in various financial and tourism companies and legal advisory firms. He has also worked in regional and international organizations in Africa, Europe and the United States. On January 6, 2016, he became the Namibian ambassador to Germany. [6]

While the ambassador to Berlin, he persuaded German authorities to agree to return to Namibia the Stone Cross of Cape Cross, a 15th-century navigation landmark erected by Portuguese explorers. Guibeb had called for its return in 2018. [7] [8] [9] [10] Guibeb described the gesture from the former colonial power in Namibia as an "important as a step for us to reconcile with our colonial past and the trail of humiliation and systematic injustice that it left behind." [11] [12]

Guibeb came under public criticism in 2019 because of claims in court that he had failed to settle debts worth about 80,000 euros. German newspaper B.Z. reported he had failed to pay 34,500 euros to the University of Jena for a research contract, and 46,410 euros for communications services at the Namibian embassy. A civil arrest warrant from a district court could not be enforced due to his diplomatic immunity, B.Z. reported. [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Namibia</span> Country in Southern Africa

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres of the Botswanan right bank of the Zambezi River separates the two countries. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walvis Bay</span> Coastal town in Namibia

Walvis Bay is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The city covers a total area of 29 square kilometres (11 sq mi) of land. The bay is a safe haven for sea vessels because of its natural deep-water harbour, protected by the Pelican Point sand spit, being the only natural harbour of any size along the country's coast. Being rich in plankton and marine life, these waters also drew large numbers of southern right whales, attracting whalers and fishing vessels.

The history of Namibia has passed through several distinct stages from being colonised in the late nineteenth century to Namibia's independence on 21 March 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Nujoma</span> President of Namibia from 1990 to 2005 (born 1929)

Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma, is a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first President of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005. Nujoma was a founding member and the first president of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in 1960. Prior to 1960, SWAPO was known as the Ovambo People's Organisation (OPO). He played an important role as leader of the national liberation movement in campaigning for Namibia's political independence from South African rule. He established the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) in 1962 and launched a guerrilla war against the apartheid government of South Africa in August 1966 at Omungulugwombashe, beginning after the United Nations withdrew the mandate for South Africa to govern the territory. Nujoma led SWAPO during the lengthy Namibian War of Independence, which lasted from 1966 to 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolf Lüderitz</span> German colonial merchant (1834-1886)

Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz was a German merchant and the founder of German South West Africa, Imperial Germany's first colony. The coastal town of Lüderitz, located in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia, is named after him.

Herman Andimba Toivo ya Toivo was a Namibian anti-apartheid activist, politician and political prisoner. Ya Toivo was active in the pre-independence movement, and is one of the co-founders of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) in 1960, and before that, its predecessor the Ovamboland People's Organization (OPO) in 1959.

The Ovamboland People's Organization (OPO) was a nationalist organization that existed between 1959 and 1960 in South West Africa. The aim of the organization was to end the South African colonial administration, and the placement of South West Africa under the United Nations Trusteeship system. Andimba Toivo ya Toivo had founded its predecessor, the Ovamboland People's Congress, in 1957 in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1959, Sam Nujoma and Jacob Kuhangua established the Ovamboland People's Organization (OPO) at the Old Location in Windhoek. Sam Nujoma was the president of OPO until its transformation into the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) a year later and remained president until Namibia gained independence in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Liberation Army of Namibia</span> Namibian political movement

The People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was the military wing of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). It fought against the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) during the South African Border War. Throughout its history, PLAN had both irregular insurgent and semi-conventional units, as well as an extensive recruitment network in rural South West Africa (Namibia). During the war most of its domestic activities consisted of mine warfare and acts of sabotage. PLAN initially lacked any standing units, and the bulk of operations were carried out by political exiles who spent cyclical periods residing in refugee camps in neighbouring states before launching raids inside South West Africa itself. By the end of the war, PLAN had 32,000 militants under arms, including three battalions of semi-conventional troops equipped with heavy weapons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germany–Namibia relations</span> Bilateral relations

Germany–Namibia relations are the bilateral relationship of Germany and Namibia. This relationship is of particular importance as Namibia was colonized and occupied by the German Empire in the 19th century. There is also a community of approximately 30,000 German Namibians residing in Namibia today. Both nations are members of the United Nations. Culturally, both countries are part of the Germanosphere.

Andreas Zack Shipanga was a Namibian politician known for the "Shipanga Rebellion", a movement within SWAPO that sought to elect a new leadership and whose followers were in response detained without trial. Imprisoned for two years following this fall-out, Shipanga was arrested and held in detention in Zambia then Tanzania until 1978. After his release from prison he founded the opposing SWAPO Democrats and served as minister in different portfolios in the Transitional Government of National Unity, the interim government of South-West Africa directly before Namibian independence.

Emil Appolus was a Namibian politician and businessperson. Living in Cape Town, Appolus was part of early discussions on Namibian independence. In 1957, Appolus became a founding member of the Ovamboland People's Congress, the forerunner to the current ruling party, SWAPO. When the OPC merged to create SWANU, Sam Nujoma and Fanuel Kozonguizi were two of the five members of the executive committee. He authored the first Black newspaper in Namibia, The South West News. The South West News was later banned for nationalistic content. After involvement in the 1960-65 Congo Crisis, Appolus ended up in Northern Rhodesia, where he was deported to Pretoria, South Africa for illegally leaving the country. After receiving bail, Appolus fled to Bechuanaland en route to Tanganyika. Appolus was the first SWAPO representative in Cairo, an important position for drawing support for national liberation. In 1969, Appolus was sent to represent SWAPO at the United Nations.

Nora Schimming-Chase was a Namibian politician and Namibia's first ambassador to Germany from 1992 to 1996. After changing her party membership from South West Africa National Union (SWANU) to Congress of Democrats (CoD), Schimming-Chase became a member of the National Assembly of Namibia from 2000 to 2010.

Elia George Kaiyamo is a Namibian politician. A member of SWAPO, Kaiyamo was an internal organizer and teacher for SWAPO prior to independence. He served in the Cabinet of Namibia as Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration from 2010 to 2015. On 2 September 2016, President Hage Geingob appointed Kaiyamo as Ambassador-designate to the People's Republic of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Mweshihange</span> Namibian politician

Peter Mweshihange was a Namibian revolutionary and guerrilla leader, and after Namibian independence, a politician and diplomat. He was the Namibia's first Minister of Defence from 1990 to 1995, and first ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 1996 until his death.

Ottilie Grete Abrahams was a Namibian educator, activist, and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mazen Izzeddin Abdalla Tal</span> Jordanian ambassador

Mazen Tal is a retired Jordanian ambassador.

Tobias Hainyeko (1932–1967) was a Namibian guerrilla fighter who served as the first commander of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) during the Namibian War of Independence from the 1960s through to the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henning Melber</span> German political scientist

Henning Melber is a German political scientist and sociologist. He is a German-Namibian and Swedish Africanist and political activist.

Hanno Burkhard Rumpf was a Namibian politician (SWAPO) and diplomat.

References

  1. ↑ El-Menshawy, Nahla (29 August 2016). "Amb. Andreas Benjamen Dawid Guibeb, Former Ambassador of Namibia in Berlin, talks to Berlin Global". Berlin Global.
  2. ↑ "Guibeb: What I really told the Germans". New Era. 24 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "About us". Marcellus Capital.
  4. ↑ "H.E. ANDREAS BENJAMEN DAWID GUIBEB". Diplomatisches Magazin.
  5. ↑ "Air Namibia, loved but heartbreaking". The Namibian. 11 September 2015.
  6. ↑ "H.E. ANDREAS BENJAMEN DAWID GUIBEB". Diplomatisches Magazin.
  7. ↑ "NAMIBIA CALLS FOR RETURN OF CULTURAL RELICS FROM FORMER COLONIAL POWER GERMANY". Namibia News Digest. June 20, 2018.
  8. ↑ Shelton, John (May 17, 2019). "Germany returning Stone Cross to Namibia". Deutsche Welle.
  9. ↑ "L'Allemagne va restituer à la Namibie un monumental calvaire du XVe siècle". No. 28 May 2022. Le Figaro. AFP.
  10. ↑ "Cape-Cross-Säule: "Markantes Zeichen" oder "Ablenkung"?". Allgemeine Zeitung. 17 May 2019.
  11. ↑ Idowu, Ronke Sanya (May 17, 2019). "Germany To Return 15th-Century Stone Cross To Namibia". Channels Incorporated.
  12. ↑ "Germany to return Portuguese Stone Cross to Namibia". BBC. 17 May 2019.
  13. ↑ Beukes, Jemima. "GUIBEB IN DEBT SCANDAL". No. 17 May 2019. Namibian Sun.
  14. ↑ "Diplomat pfeift auf unsere Gesetze und kommt damit durch". BZ. 21 May 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.